Friday, September 25, 2009

Why I suck at working from home

With both of the boys sick, I have had to work from home. For the most part it was ok. I can do most of my work from a laptop with an internet connection and a phone. Much of what I do each day is participate in meetings. Today was no exception. Like a bad mother working from home with sick children, I rely heavily on TV and DVDs to entertain the patients while I work. It keeps them mostly quiet and I can get stuff done while they relax on their beds we've made on the sofa. I mute the phone except when I talk to keep the background noise and parenting comments from interrupting the meeting. It more or less works.

So today, with both boys home, I was a bit smug about just how productive I was able to be. I got my tasks done, attended meetings and made calls. Sure I was also running to the kitchen for water and juice, keeping the DVDs going, administering medications, but it was more or less working, no matter how exhausted I was feeling. One of my last meetings of the day was a long planning meeting. It took an eternity, or at least hours. During this meeting Big Dog was taking a nap, and Little Dog, my exhibitionist, was roaming the room playing with toys pantless. Fine, he was happy and quiet. No big deal. Near the end of the meeting I got a call from Mr. Dog on the other line. I switched over, chatted briefly then switched back to the meeting. When I looked up I noticed that Little Dog had a tent pole with the elasticized shock cord wrapped around his toe. He looked uncomfortable, but was working on getting the restraint off his own toe. I just watched. A moment later he'd freed his foot and was looking at another part of his anatomy. When he made a move toward that appendage, I had to speak up.

"Don't do that, Little Dog," I said firmly but in a calm voice.

"Why?" he challenged.

"Because you might hurt yourself."

"But I just tied up my toe!"

"Yeah, but don't do that to your penis," I advised. Then I noticed my phone wasn't on mute.

A second later and instant message from another manager popped up on my laptop. It simply read, "We can hear you."

OMG Lady! Aw, and you were being so good at doing everything, too! I hate when that happens. Almost every time I am "smug" as you call it, about getting it all right, it's like something goes wrong. I am so sorry for that feeling you had :) I can't even imagine what you must've felt as soon as you realized you weren't muted.

In April of 2005, my husband and I packed up our two dogs and toddler and moved to Seattle from the San Francisco Bay area. Shortly after our move, I became pregnant with our second child. As exciting as this was, it definitely put a cramp in my ability to explore our new home town. I'm still working hard at adjusting to the new digs.
As a working mom to two small boys, I manage to keep pretty busy. Between business meetings, play dates and pediatrician appointments, there isn't much time left for personal pursuits. But that is a trade off I am willing to make. I'll find time for myself when the boys are old enough to borrow the car, right?
And as though that isn't enough, when we moved we bought our first house, a major fixer upper. Yeah, we wanted the "this Old House" experience, but little did I realize that it would lead to such great experiences, like the sudden loss of running water from a broken water main, or a leaky sewer pipe that kept the toilet off limits for days.
All I can say is that life sure is interesting!